1. Technical Field
The disclosure is related generally to semiconductor structures. More particularly, the disclosure is related to a self-correcting power grid for semiconductor structures and a method of using a self-correcting power grid.
2. Related Art
Various components and devices in conventional semiconductor structures require electrical power for operation. For example, transistors of a chip formed by conventional semiconductor structures may require power in order for the chip to operate as desired. The electrical power supplied to the transistors and other components of the chip are typically provided by a plurality of electrical interconnects conventionally known as “power grids.” The power grids of the semiconductor structure are manufactured through a process commonly known as a back-end-of-line (BEOL) process, and may be manufactured to include various layers of interconnects, where the interconnects in each layer are positioned perpendicular to the preceding and following layer. That is, the various layers of interconnects may span across a plurality of conductive levels in the semiconductor structure and may supply electrical power to various components and devices in the semiconductor structure.
In manufacturing conventional semiconductor structures, it may be common that the semiconductor structure, and specifically the power grid, may include defects. That is, during the manufacturing of conventional semiconductor structures, defects may be formed within the power grid as a consequence of an undesirable variable that may occur during the manufacturing process. Conventional defects may include an opening or void in a portion of the various layers of interconnects forming the power grid. During subsequent manufacturing processes of the semiconductor structure, these voids may be filed with a metal. This defect filled with metal in the power grid may cause a small short in the power grid, however, under conventional testing procedures for the semiconductor, the short caused by the defect may go undetected. Additionally, as a result of the redundancy of the power grid, the semiconductor structure including the defect may ultimately operate as desired in its early operational life. However, as the operational life of the semiconductor structure including the defect in the power grid increases, the reliability (e.g., operational life-span) of the semiconductor structure substantially decreases. More specifically, over time, the undetected defect in the power grid may cause the semiconductor structure to prematurely fail. For example, the undetected defect in the power grid may cause excess heat generation around the device (e.g., transistor) to which it is supplying electrical power, which may increase electro-migration, ultimately resulting in failure of the device. Additionally, because the defect may be undetected during conventional testing procedures, the failure of the semiconductor structure caused by the defect may be substantially difficult to anticipate and/or detect during the operational life of the semiconductor structure.